Article: Jacoby Can't Handle the Truth

Jeff Jacoby writes a middling column in the Globe. His politics is generally middle to right. He has a writing style that suggests his mommy told him what a smart boy he is way too often. I can barely stand to read his stuff, but it is my duty to keep track. Today his column is about Michelle Obama, and he declares her to be fair game. "Fair game!" See, I told you Jacoby was no genius. "Fair game" in the aftermath of Hillary Clinton's remark about assassination?! Political campaigns are not hunting trips and pundits are not leading safaris. If you think Jacoby's hackneyed trope is innocent enough, please consider that his choice of words comes straight out of the air that Hillary created last week. Tropes are contagious. I read into Jacoby's column to discover that Tennesseans, for instance, are always proud of America, unlike Michelle Obama whose speech a few weeks ago gave people the impression that she only recently found something to be proud of America for. If you read the quotation from Michelle she is making a point that the likes of Jeff Jacoby and the hand-picked denizens of Chit'lin Switch, Tennessee miss complete. She said "... for the first time in my adult life ..." She said, in other words, that when she finally threw off the fairy stories and mythologies of American hyper-nationalism, that jingoist creed of "my country is never wrong, because it is MY country," she realized how much needs fixing in America. When my mind resolved her comment down to that, I had a flash of Jack Nicholson playing Colonel Nathan Jessup in "A Few Good Men" telling the opposing counsel that he "... can't handle the truth!" And, surely, the likes of Jeff Jacoby not only cannot handle it, but lead the rest of "Tennessee" to believe they can't either! This, however, is almost the least of our problems, for as the campaign continues, we will see the dirtiest political fighting ever mounted in America. There are millions who literally are not ready for a mixed-race President, particularly one whose father was a Muslim and gave him three alien names to carry around for the rest of his life. There are millions whose fragile personalities cannot take that psychological pressure and uncertainty and they will never vote for Barack Obama. Meanwhile though, there are many millions more who could and will. The pundits like Jacoby who seem to get away with it must be exposed. JB